D. J. White Australian National University, School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Canberra, A.C.T 0200, Australia

The golden snub-nosed monkey, Rhinopithecus roxellana exhibits a typical Asian colobine social system of all-male units and one male-multi-female units. Little is known about the social structure within these units. Data were collected on adult and sub-adult individuals within two troops of semi-free ranging R. roxellana at The Shanghai Wild Animal Park and a provisioned troop within the Qinling Mountains, Peoples Republic of China. Social relationships, affiliative, agonistic or other, manifested themselves in measurable differences in the selection of partners for these behaviors. Individuals showed a significant preference, identified using dyadic-based chi-squared analysis, for interacting, both positive and negative, with certain subjects over others. In particular, aggression was directed toward younger individuals. A strong preference existed between younger females and the unit male. Females with infants were more likely to exhibit affiliative relationships with each other than with females without infants. The results also suggest the presence of mother-daughter based preferences. This study documented the preferences for interactions for some individuals over others within the social units of R. roxellana. The selection of partners appeared to be influenced by a number of factors such as age, genetic relatedness and reproductive status.